The Mistakes I Have Made

Feature Article from Hemmings Classic Car

Ever since I purchased my first copy of Thoroughbred & Classic Car magazine at the newsstand inside Manhattan's Pan Am building, back in December 1975, while cutting class, and read an article on restoration, I became hooked on this wonderful hobby. In fact, automobile restoration is not only my absolute favorite pastime, but it's the one thing that I can easily immerse myself in day after day without getting bored. Whether it's reading books on the subject every evening or getting my fingernails filled with grease or paint every weekend, I never tire from learning or doing.
Through the years and lots of hands-on experiences, I have learned many things. Because I never had any formal training in either autobody or mechanical repair, my trial-and-error way of learning has paid off, but not without paying the price on several occasions. Yet every time I've made a mistake I've learned from that mistake, which has made me a better, safer and more proficient restorer today.
Some of the mistakes I've made have been quite basic, others were somewhat extreme, one was pretty stupid; thankfully, I never did get hurt. Looking back on them all, I wouldn't trade my self-inflicted school-of-hard-knocks training method for all the Connelly leather in the world. So heed the warnings, my fellow gearheads, and don't do as I did.
Sandblasting Sunroofs
Using sand under pressure to blast away rust works great, but not if the rust spot you are trying to remove is adjacent to the sliding track of an electronic sunroof. The thinking here was that it would take only a few short seconds to blast away the rust spot and get down to shiny metal. But do you have any idea how many grains of sand are shot out of the gun's nozzle at 90 psi? It was far more than my vacuum cleaner was able to suck up. No matter how many times I vacuumed the sunroof bay, every time I closed the roof it made a scratching sound as if a cat was trying to claw its way out.
Mixing Paint
When mixing paint, always put away chemicals that I don't need; otherwise they may end up in the paint. Once, while I was preparing a gallon of acrylic lacquer for thinning, I inadvertently picked up the can of Prep Sol and used that instead of lacquer thinner. Realizing that it was too late to do anything about it, I decided to spray my car with the wrongly thinned paint anyway and see what would happen. It laid down smooth and dried nice, but looked awfully dull. So I called the DuPont hotline and was told not to worry, as Prep Sol contains many of the same ingredients that are used in lacquer thinner. After a thorough buffing, it really did look great. Talk about dodging a huge bullet.
Buffing Blunders
Figuring that if I screwed a buffing pad on a 10,000-rpm spinning grinder instead of a slow-spinning 3,500-rpm paint buffer, I would finish buffing the freshly applied lacquer in one-third the time. But little did I know that excessive heat really does burn paint. Worse, I had dozens of inch-long grinding-type marks on nearly every panel edge where the excessively spinning buffer caught the edge and rubbed the paint away. Thankfully, lacquer is no longer available.
Removing Springs
If you've never removed a coil spring without using a proper coil spring compressor, please don't try it. No matter how many times I read my shop manual, the true meaning of the words, "Caution: Compressed coil springs are dangerous," didn't really sink into my thick skull until one went flying across my garage just inches from my head. At the time, I was broke and couldn't afford $20 for the right tool. So I thought that by using a 6-foot-long broom handle, I was a safe enough distance away when I "popped" the spring off its A-arm perch. In my defense, I was 19 years old. Today, I possess both internal and external spring compressors-both of Made in U.S.A quality.
Cheap Tools
Where tools are made can play a huge role in your safety. Although the Chinese have given the human race many great, important things, tools are not one of them. Most tools made in China are made of inferior materials, which is why they are so cheap to buy. Avoid those that are used for hitting things, like hammers and dollies. If they are not made of quality steel and properly heat-treated, they can easily break apart on impact and inflict serious damage. I was using one such hammer once and its head, which was made of only cast metal, broke off and whacked me in the arm. Now my toolbox is filled with nothing but Made in U.S.A. tools, regardless how much I have to pay.
Buying Flowers
If you're married, you really need to plan out your purchases, be it a car or a not so easily hidden tool like a stand-up air compressor. A few days prior to the arrival of your new toy, it is imperative that you bring the wife flowers. Yeah, I know they are a waste, but a mere $25 worth of roses goes a long way. Just don't buy them too far in advance; otherwise, when your tools arrive, she'll forget that you ever bought her flowers in the first place. Most importantly, don't buy her flowers the day your new sandblast cabinet gets delivered because she'll think you're bribing her. After learning the hard way, now I only announce a new can't-hide-it purchase when my wife is incredibly tired after working a 12-hour shift at the hospital or shortly after I suggest that we make a "special" trip to New York City to visit her mother.
Mistakes can be both insightful and entertaining. If you have any restoration mistakes that you would like to share, we'd like to hear about them. Your mistakes can help save someone's car, leg or marriage.

This article originally appeared in the June, 2005 issue of Hemmings Classic Car.